Lifecycle management is a feature that helps you govern an asset through its entire lifecycle, from creation to retirement. Asset statuses represent each lifecycle stage. Activities such as assessments, sign-offs, and smart checks gate progression between stages. The Lifecycle tracker visualizes the current stage and any outstanding activities directly on the asset page.
The Lifecycle management feature is available for all asset types (in preview), except for BI Folder, BI Report, Data Element, Data Structure, and their child asset types. It's enabled by default for the following asset types. For all other eligible asset types, it is disabled by default.
- AI Agent
- AI Agent Version
- AI Base Model
- AI Model Version
- AI Use Case
- Data Product
Related features
The Lifecycle tracker, lifecycle activities, and sign-off activities below are part of Lifecycle management itself. Smart checks and the AI-powered writing assistant agent are separate, independently enabled features that can combine with Lifecycle management for a single, end-to-end governance experience. Together, these features make up the Governance by design toolkit.
- Lifecycle tracker: A visual progress tracker shown on the asset page. It displays the current lifecycle stage, outstanding activities, and controls for advancing the asset to the next stage.
- Lifecycle activities: Tasks attached to specific lifecycle stages that must be completed before an asset can advance. There are three types: assessments, sign-off activities, and smart checks. Activities can be configured to run automatically for all new assets of a type, or added manually on individual asset pages. For more information, go to Configure lifecycle activities for an asset type.
- Sign-off activities: Formal confirmations that a specific requirement was met or an instruction was followed. Only available through the Lifecycle tracker. When configured as required, a sign-off must be completed before an asset can advance to the next lifecycle stage.
- Smart checks (in preview): Automated, real-time validation rules that enforce metadata quality standards on asset pages. Smart checks run independently of Lifecycle management. When Lifecycle management is also enabled, a smart check can optionally be configured as a lifecycle activity for a specific stage, and its pass or fail result is then also shown in the Lifecycle tracker.
- AI-powered writing assistant agent: An AI-powered tool that generates and improves text attribute content directly in the attribute editor on the asset page, helping stewards meet metadata quality requirements faster. Runs independently of Lifecycle management.
Lifecycle phases
Lifecycle stages are grouped into two phases, configured per asset type: Core phase statuses represent the active stages of an asset's lifecycle and are reflected in the Lifecycle tracker, while Retirement phase statuses represent inactive, retired stages and are never shown in the tracker. For configuration steps, go to Configure the lifecycle stages for an asset type.